A government which claims the right to kill its own citizens with no judicial process on the basis of the vote of 24.4% of the qualified electorate, legislates that workers cannot strike without the support of 40% of their qualified electorate because strikes can inconvenience people. Not as inconvenient as being sliced to pulp by flying metal, I should have thought.
David Davis, a decent Tory, said that some of the provisions of the Trade Union bill are Francoist, and he was not exaggerating. You can read the dispassionate official analysis of the bill by Parliament staff here. One of least publicised yet appalling aspects of the bill is the arbitrary power given to an anti-strike witchfinder, the Certification Officer. He is specifically given the powers of the High Court to compel individuals to give evidence or produce documents, and to make arbitrary judgements.
That extreme authoritarian stance is reflected throughout the bill. It is more publicised that notice must be given of picketing, with names reported to the police and identifying armbands worn, with letters of authority from the union to be there which the Bill states must be produced not only to the Police but to anybody who asks on request. This gives employers a whole new avenue of harassment of strikers.
The provision that 14 days notice must be given of any strike is obviously designed to reduce the effectiveness of strike action. The right to bring in agency staff to replace agency workers is not in the Bill, but the parliamentary staff analysis indicates it is intended to bring that in under secondary legislation – power delegated to the Secretary of State. That obviously is designed to combine with the 14 day notice to make strikes ineffective. The regulation of what individuals say about the industrial dispute on social media is so repressive as to verge on the incredible.
It is obvious the Tory government serve the agenda of corporatism, pure and simple. But it is perhaps surprising they are so entirely open about it. If you do not have the chance to withdraw your Labour, you are a slave. In the days of real slavery in Jamaica, foremen or gangmasters were generally slaves themselves (as opposed to the southern United States where they were generally poor whites). Very often the black gangmasters were extremely brutal to the slaves under them, imparting floggings with gusto to try to cement themselves in the favour of their white masters.
That is the function that token Muslim Sajid Javid plays in this Conservative government, flogging the workers with more gusto than his Old Etonian masters would dare to do. Plus they wouldn’t want to get blood on their trousers. Javid is a most enthusiastic Uncle Tom determined to tick all the establishment boxes. He certified the Trade Union Bill as compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, when it is plainly in contravention of Article 11. But his most spectacular effort to fit in with his Tory masters came at the Conservative Friends of Israel where ignoring completely the terrible suffering, humiliation and repression of the Palestinian people, he declared
“Mr Javid, who described himself as a “proud British-born Muslim”, announced that if he had to leave Britain to live in the Middle East, then he would choose Israel as home. Only there, he said, would his children feel the “warm embrace of freedom and liberty”. For him, only Israel shared the democratic values of the UK.”
Sajid Javid promotes measures rightly called Francoist because he is a person it is perfectly reasonable to call a fascist.
Sajid Javid Hankers After “Israel’s Warm Embrace”
“(as opposed to the southern United States where they were generally poor whites)”
Where did you get this idea, Craig?
John Goss your “One MP for Cornwall” idea is very wrong. The institution of vast constituencies, with large numbers of electors who have no means of reaching each other and forming communal opinions, was and is one of the principal means used to ensure that the US House of Representatives cannot challenge the oligarchs.
Smaller constituencies, capable of being canvassed by volunteers and in which public meetings can involve significant numbers of the public, and more frequent elections are needed.
Big constituencies are designed to be ruled from the centre by mass media and surveillance.
The BBC got it right for a change according to Greenwald.
Hostile BBC Interview of a Saudi Loyalist Shows Prime Journalistic Duty: Scrutiny of One’s Own Side
15 September 2015
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/15/great-bbc-interview-british-loyalist-saudi-regime-shows-journalists-first-duty/
The interviewee who evades the questions is Daniel Kawczynski Con Shrewsbury. He often visits Saudi Arabia paid for by the Saudis, other countries including Israel with the CFoI and India as this little gem shows
Overseas visits
•29 August-2 September 2005, to India. Hotel accommodation provided by the Government of India. Flights paid for by Dr Liam Fox’s office from a donation by Mr Stanley Fink, a businessman from Middlesex. Upgrade on outward flight from Virgin. (Registered 12 October 2005)
What was that about?
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=11817
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kawczynski
Can anyone tell me what th trick is when readings this blog? It starts off with a serious or humorous post by Craig and is followed for a short while by serious and well thought out comments. It then descends into the usual suspects, no matter what the subject of the post, swapping insults and conspiracy theories, usually about Israel and Jewish people or history. It then becomes extremely difficult to find the posts relevant to the original subject. It’s a great pity and I wish there was a way of screening out these off topic comments.
Proportional representation Bevin is down to populace numbers not size of constituency. The rural areas, lords, farmers, military, mineral deposits ripe for fracking, lead, tin, zinc or whatever else they can dig from the ground and sell to us, is where the problem lies. Parliament, to a large extent deals, or should deal, with international events and our participation in them. Of course the representations of the constituency need to be addressed. But that is as easy to be addressed by one MP as six (especially if they sing from the same notepads). Having too many MPs representing the richer elements is not good when it comes to the votes on going to war in Syria for example.
@Ba`al “Perhaps now too he will reconsider the Litvinenko death having nothing to do with the Russian government”
“Nope. It’s got Putin’s sticky fingerprints all over it.” Def wrong.
I have to agree with John Ba`al It seemed to me it was someone who did not know how to handle the material they were carrying.I do have a little expertise in this matter.I also read the report of the inquest experts.To me they were talking the biggest load of crap I have ever heard.It was BS because they had a hidden agenda.
Bob Smith, I did think of a browser plugin that hides posts from selected posters (with the list being at the user’s own choice). However, most regular posters make the odd useful comment from time to time, even if it is not their habit. Also, responses from people who are not hidden will make for a confusing experience.
So, it is technically possible, but I don’t know if it is useful.
@Bob Smith
15 Sep, 2015 – 11:15 pm
The trick in reading these blog comments is probably not to read them, then you can avoid Orwellian things such as the ‘Anti-Social Crime and Policing Bill’, ‘The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill’, the ‘Communications Data Bill’, and this latest crap against the trade unions, amongst others.
In legal terms, Britain is now a police state. If you’re not worried about that, you should be.
When it comes to what’s happening in Britain and America, the phrase ‘inverted totalitarianism’ is often used. It is a term coined by the American political philosopher Sheldon Wolin. According to Wolin, there are three main ways in which inverted totalitarianism is the inverted form of classical totalitarianism:
1) Whereas in Nazi Germany the state dominated economic actors, in inverted totalitarianism, corporations through political contributions and lobbying, dominate the United States and Britain, with the government acting as the servant of large corporations. This is considered “normal” rather than corrupt.
2) While the Nazi regime aimed at the constant political mobilization of the population, with its Nuremberg rallies, Hitler Youth, and so on, inverted totalitarianism aims for the mass of the population to be in a persistent state of political apathy. The only type of political activity expected or desired from the citizenry is voting. Low electoral turnouts are favorably received as an indication that the bulk of the population has given up hope that the government will ever help them.
3) While the Nazis openly mocked democracy, the United States and Britain maintains the conceit that they are the model of democracy for the whole world.
We have become what our ancestors fought against
None is forcing your to read them! Are they?
Best filter you can get.
Return to the article and check out the photo at the bottom and then read your own comment again.
==============
John Goss it is a strange phenomena that sometimes the most logical and well researched and constructed arguments fail to result in the desired outcomes of changing the world view of the target audiences. This phenomena is rooted in the weights and values allocated by the the target audiences to the facets of the postulations/concepts subject of discussion. The target audiences may experience emotional dislocation result of the forwarded propositions, resulting from the diametric opposition of the tabled views to their cherished value weights. Hence rendering the said audiences to baulk at the notions that have been tabled. An elegant reaction to the discussions that are challenging their world view and their cherished value weights that is anchoring these to their versions of reality.
Thanks Mary for James O’Brien’s dismemberment of Daniel Kawczynski, who should never show his face in public again. People like him are not welcome in my country. His surname appears to have a Polish derivation. From what I know of Polish people he would not be welcome there. So Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the other repulsive Gulf States should be very hot for taking him in, which they clearly have.
A suggestion regarding some expressed frustration at frequent divergence from Craig’s original post subject/content. (Guilty millud!)
Bear this in mind first; I’ve been lurking longer than I’ve been posting, and sometimes I absent myself for varying lengths of time and various reasons – e.g. depression (sometimes it all just gets too much. As I recall, I am not alone in that regard); busyness/involvement in other things; self-disqualification on grounds of knowing (or suspecting) I have nothing remotely useful or informed to say on a particular subject; but I am always eventually drawn back here because, apart from anything else, there are so many valuable nuggets of information to be found here, and so many links to fascinating, well-written articles.
So, to my suggestion (which would require dedicated moderators, acting in accordance with Craig’s wishes)…
Comments which are deemed off-topic could be given a greyed-out background, in the same way that Craig’s own comments are at present. (This would obviously require demarcating Craig’s comments with a different, more eye-catching colour.)
I believe this would make it much easier for those who wish to read only those comments which are strictly ‘on-topic’ to do so, as they could simply scroll past the greyed-out comments.
Shouldn’t be rocket science to implement, I wouldn’t have thought.
Any feedback welcome.
Then again, just how many people here ARE actually bothered by off-topicness?
Afetr all, there’s a lot of interesting stuff goes on here that’s O/T.
Pan
12:36 am
“Afetr [sic] all”
One for you, John S-D!
“John Goss it is a strange phenomena that sometimes the most logical and well researched and constructed arguments fail to result in the desired outcomes of changing the world view of the target audiences. This phenomena is rooted in the weights and values allocated by the the target audiences to the facets of the postulations/concepts subject of discussion. The target audiences may experience emotional dislocation result of the forwarded propositions, resulting from the diametric opposition of the tabled views to their cherished value weights. Hence rendering the said audiences to baulk at the notions that have been tabled. An elegant reaction to the discussions that are challenging their world view and their cherished value weights that is anchoring these to their versions of reality.”
Entertaiing but not your best contribution to Pseud’s Corner Fedup! 🙂 I’m sure it’s down to not having any editing options. But I embraced it and even understood it. But then I’m weird. And in summary you’re right. However convincing an argument some refuse to be convinced. I did understand it, didn’t I?
Pan
16/09/2015 12:38am
It’s easily done. I try quite hard not to criticise spelling, grammar or punctuation because I know I am not perfect myself and it seems a bit desperate, like it’s the only way you can find fault with someone.
I am largely interested in what people say, not how they say it.
If that’s your first error then you’re annoyingly good.
Kind regards,
John
Very recent, “Julian Assange on Jeremy Corbyn & US/UK special relationship”
“Afshin Rattansi goes underground with the world’s most wanted publisher – the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. He has just co-authored a book- the WikiLeaks Files, and it paints a picture of systemic U.S. torture and killing as well as the destruction of the lives and livelihoods of billions of people right around the world.
We speak to Julian about the UK/US special relationship, when he is going to be free, and the war on Syria.”
It’s much more interesting than that description:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztai31ZpTCk
John, I was taking the p**s out of myself, that’s all!
But I confess to being not only interested in what people say, but also how they say it.
I just love language. After all, if you want to say something, why not say it as clearly as you can?
I find bad typography just as frustrating as bad grammar – they both make communication hard work and less effective.
Some might call that snobbery, but that would be to miss the point.
FWIW, I find inverted snobbery more offensive than ‘toffee-nosed’ snobbery.
“John Goss it is a strange phenomena that sometimes the most logical and well researched and constructed arguments fail to result in the desired outcomes of changing the world view of the target audiences. This phenomena is rooted in the weights and values allocated by the the target audiences to the facets of the postulations/concepts subject of discussion. The target audiences may experience emotional dislocation result of the forwarded propositions, resulting from the diametric opposition of the tabled views to their cherished value weights. Hence rendering the said audiences to baulk at the notions that have been tabled. An elegant reaction to the discussions that are challenging their world view and their cherished value weights that is anchoring these to their versions of reality.”
Cognitive dissonance, in a nutshell.
“Cognitive dissonance, in a nutshell.”
God, when I read back some of the comments I’ve made in the past I want to shoot . . . the blog. I nearly said myself. As we get older our eyesight goes, brain cells die, we make more mistakes. An edit facility would be nice. I have been reading Fedup’s comments for some time and they are largely on the button, well thought out. I am not criticising him. We all do it.
John: We all know editing posts cannot be done here, so allowances surely are to be made. I don’t bother correcting typos, for instance, and when the error is completely obvious, let it stand! Anyone reading and interpreting in good faith will understand the intent.
* BREAKING NEWS*…
Fresh rumours abound the Westminster village and mediasphere tonight that as al-Bin-Corbyn walked to Parliament in a ill-matching suit,didnt sing the Saxe-Goeberg anthem and had ONE button undone as surely pointing to the FACT he’s the bastard son of BOTH Hitler and Stalin-very probably Trotsky too!
Paul Dacre and/or Laura Keunssberg remain unwell.
In the interim Andrew Neil is available for shallow sneering hatchet jobs on any Red Under The Bed you wish on behalf of his NeoCon corporate paymasters-as ’twas ever thus..
Cirag Mruray’s bolg deos not need an eidt btotun to crocret snepillg msitkeas. All taht is nscerasey is taht the frsit and lsat lterets are in the cerocrt pcale and it dneso’t mteatr aoubt the oens in beweten.
Readable, yes. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have seen tricks similar to that, before.
But my goodness, that must have taken some effort to type!
What good is a union without workers?
The union movement will be a thing of the past in the coming decades as sophisticated automation technology gives us increasingly advanced robotics to perform the functions of skilled labour and programmable decision making. Not only will the union be without working members, society will be without employment opportunities for those roles demanding lesser manual and intellectual skills. Who would bother to hire forklift drivers, cleaners, automotive assemblers and hospital orderlies when those jobs can be performed by tireless robots?
Now, many people will laugh at this prediction because they are ignorant of technology and obstinately deluded about their own powers of observation and analysis.
Only several generations ago there was no unemployment. If you were cold and hungry, you would find work or make it by stealing or prostituting yourself. Or you were welcome to find a hole, climb into it and die. The welfare state changed that.
But the welfare state will need to grow its capacity to meet the needs of a future society in which most of its people will be ‘unemployed’ for all or most of their lives. A paradigm shift is what will be needed to make ordinary people shareholders in the economic machinery that currently only pays dividends to its morally indifferent, wealthy owners. But even socialising economic ownership will fail unless humanity gets a grip on the fundamental reality that human overpopulation will cause our demise as our existence is founded upon the availability of scarce and diminishing natural resources.
Consistent with my own analysis of the Syrian conflict although incorrectly understating the religious origins of jihadist objectives in the war for control —
“Foreign meddling in Syria began several years before the Syrian revolt erupted. Wikieaks released leaked US State Department cables from 2006 revealing US plans to overthrow the Syrian government through instigating civil strife, and receiving these very orders straight from Tel Aviv.”
““A battle is raging over whether pipelines will go toward Europe from east to west, from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean coast of Syria, or take a more northbound route from Qatar and Saudi Arabia via Syria and Turkey. Having realized that the stalled Nabucco pipeline, and indeed the entire Southern Corridor, are backed up only by Azerbaijan’s reserves and can never equal Russian supplies to Europe or thwart the construction of the South Stream, the West is in a hurry to replace them with resources from the Persian Gulf. Syria ends up being a key link in this chain, and it leans in favor of Iran and Russia; thus it was decided in the Western capitals that its regime needs to change.”
“Indeed, tensions were building between Russia, the U.S. and the European Union amid concerns that the European gas market would be held hostage to Russian gas giant Gazprom. The proposed Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline would be essential to diversifying Europe’s energy supplies away from Russia.”
““Assad refused to sign a proposed agreement with Qatar and Turkey that would run a pipeline from the latter’s North field, contiguous with Iran’s South Pars field, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey, with a view to supply European markets – albeit crucially bypassing Russia. Assad’s rationale was ‘to protect the interests of [his] Russian ally, which is Europe’s top supplier of natural gas.’”
http://www.mintpressnews.com/migrant-crisis-syria-war-fueled-by-competing-gas-pipelines/209294/
As a Palestinian, I would like to see what welcome awaits Sajid Javid on arrival at Tel Aviv Airport to settle in my occupied country.
The question is, has he managed to find a suitable bonding agent to glue his lips to the backside of, you know who!
Petition
To debate a vote of no confidence in Health Secretary the Right Hon Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy Hunt has alienated the entire workforce of the NHS by threatening to impose a harsh contract and conditions on first consultants and soon the rest of the NHS staff.
Sign this petition
220,589 signatures
By e-mail 4.04am this morning
‘Hi……
Parliament debated the petition you signed – “To debate a vote of no confidence in Health Secretary the Right Hon Jeremy Hunt”
Watch the debate: http://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d6fbba1f-282d-4027-82b7-754baad69ce6
Read the transcript: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm150914/halltext/150914h0001.htm#15091415000001
The petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104334
Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament’
~~~~
It was shunted off to Westminster Hall. Not televised. Not many there. Nobody knows. That’s the way the fascisti like it.
The ‘response’ above is long winded nuspeak about Hunt’s plan for 7 day working. Not a response to the petition in any way.
The ‘response’ shows a photo of a packed House of Commons chamber. Misleading. You go to the video and there is a scene of a desultory gathering of a few.
‘Bob Smith’ earlier – Hasbara calling.
He must have missed some of Craig’s comment about the effects of the cruel Occupation in various posts.
Both news channels are unwatchable/unbearable this morning. Both lead with JC’s non-singing of the national anthem, linking to most of the front pages saying the same, and speculating how JC will deal with PMQs. And we thought that bear baiting and hunting was illegal.
BBC front page this morning.
‘New Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is to make his debut at Prime Minister’s Questions later, taking on David Cameron for the first time.
Mr Corbyn will rise to ask the first of his six allotted questions shortly after midday, with his performance likely to be closely scrutinised by the media and Labour MPs.
He has called for “less theatre and more facts” at the weekly showpiece.
He has also said he could skip some sessions, leaving them to colleagues.
The encounter will be the first parliamentary test of Mr Corbyn’s leadership, coming after his appointment of a shadow cabinet and his speech to the TUC annual congress on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Labour leader’s decision to stand in silence during the singing of the national anthem at a service on Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain has attracted criticism from a number of Tory MPs and is the focus of several front page stories in the newspapers.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34264683
Sky News website
Corbyn To Face Cameron Amid Anthem Snub Row
Labour’s new leader asked his supporters for suggestions about what to ask David Cameron during his first appearance at PMQs.
http://news.sky.com/story/1553222/corbyn-to-face-cameron-amid-anthem-snub-row
Wednesday’s National Newspaper Front Pages
22:52, UK,
Tuesday 15 September 2015
http://news.sky.com/gallery/1553216/wednesdays-newspaper-front-pages
Sami Excellent post. Javid would be whisked through. Whereas you or I would get the Shin Bet treatment in a airless side room. Who are you? Why are you visiting Israel? Do you know anyone living in Israel? etc. That could go on for hours. Might even be humiliated by a body search.
The same happens at the Allenby crossing.
Israel interrogates, expels well-known South African academic Salim Vally, invited to lecture in Palestine
12 March 2013
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-interrogates-expels-well-known-south-african-academic-salim-vally-invited
Israelis assault award winning journalist
Mel Frykberg The Electronic Intifada 29 June 2008
GAZA CITY (IPS) – Mohammed Omer, the Gaza correspondent of IPS, and joint winner of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, was strip-searched at gunpoint, assaulted and abused by Israeli security officials at the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Thursday as he tried to return home to Gaza.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israelis-assault-award-winning-journalist/7593
Mo is still in Gaza living in the rubble in Rafah.
Rose @ 9.53
Fair comment. I was at university at the time so I did have a lot of time on my hands.